


Plenty of Ships in the Sky

by blastheart



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 18:06:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13463661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blastheart/pseuds/blastheart
Summary: Lunalu leaves her cabin for sustenance and somehow ends up talking ships with Lowain and company. Since this is the Grancypher, of course things get a little out of hand.Mentions of a number of different ships like Gawain/Lennah, Stan/Aliza, Elsam/Yggdrasil.





	Plenty of Ships in the Sky

It wasn't that Lunalu didn't like the other people on board the Grancypher. They were all surprisingly bearable for being brilliant, charming, beautiful, heroic, etc etc etc. They were perfect grist for Lunalu's mill. It was just, well, a little too much sometimes.

But the Captain had a way of noticing when someone in the guild was hiding from everybody else and of appearing with a wide smile to drag that unfortunate soul out to go monster hunting and, not coincidentally, get some sunlight and some social interaction. Which was all to the good and Lunalu approved of it. For other people.

So before the Captain could get any ideas (or, horrors, send Siegfried to check in on Lunalu) she packed up her sketchbook and headed out to the cafeteria to get food. Her last project was just out the door and she needed an idea for the next one, anyway.

There were by now so many people on board ship, whether guild members or just some of the Captain's friends and acquaintances, that the old signup sheet for whose turn it was to cook had been replaced by a byzantine system devised by Karteira and Philosophia (the guiding rules laid down by the Captain had been "I don't want anybody to feel exploited or left out, and Katalina doesn't step in the kitchen ever.") Lunalu had volunteered to help clean up occasionally instead. It was chaotic but seemed to make everybody happy (except Katalina.)

As it happened that day Lowain, Elsam, and Tomoi were manning the kitchen (loitering might be a better description, thought Lunalu.) As usual the volume and pace of their conversation would have been intimidating if Lunalu hadn't gotten used to it already.

"Hey Lu," said Lowain. "Done with the AP?" (Lunalu guessed from the context that he meant 'art project.') "Can I fix you something?"

"Something with caffeine please," croaked Lunalu. "And sugar. Lots of both. Thank you."

The three of them exchanged glances (Lunalu had noticed they had some kind of telepathy, entirely superfluous in people who talked so much) and got to work. It seemed to involve a lot more burners and chopping and frying than coffee usually required. This was awkward.

"Um," said Lunalu. "I don't mean to put you out. Just coffee is fine."

"We haven't seen you around for a few days," said Elsam (or maybe it was Tomoi, but Lunalu would have died before admitting that she couldn't always tell them apart.) "You've been MCing (majorly crunching), right? Artists need fuel too. Here, some high-octane resupply on us." And a big plate landed in front of Lunalu, followed by a mug full of something hot and enticing. Lunalu's stomach rumbled and she turned pink.

Now that she thought of it, she actually hadn't eaten much of anything in the past few days. She peered at the food. Lowain and company had managed to fit her favorite foods on one plate (insofar as Lunalu had any preferences in food, a secondary consideration to art.) "I see you know me pretty well."

Tomoi grinned. "For sure. Loaded with VMs (vitamins and minerals.) Plus protein for the vigorous skyfarer of today. TLC courtesy of LTE (Lowain Tomoi Elsam.) Wahey!"

"Wahey!" cheered the other two, and then Lowain filled in, "A cook who gets his guests sick isn't much of one, yeah? We keep track of everybody's SOs (special orders.)" He ticked off on his fingers. "Kyatalina hates some veggies but she'll eat 'em if you mince them up nice first. Jammy needs to taste test the Cap's food or he's not happy. LC (La Coiffe) is strict veg only. The Siegman likes spicy food. Stuff like that."

Lunalu looked at the three of them with a new respect. This was art, as much as anything was. It was also delicious, and so she busied herself with appreciating it for the next while and listening to the three of them gossip.

There was a _lot_ of gossip.

Richard had gotten lucky at the Jewel Resort, and being Richard this meant his winnings wound up in the hands of some small-time crooks in short order, which meant that Therese had gone on the warpath, which meant that De La Fille had gone to help, so... And on and on and on.

"Well," said Lunalu, after she had finished eating and they were discussing whether Rick and Lecia counted as coworkers or not. "You can't say it's ever boring."

"A skyfarer's work is never done," said Lowain with the air of an oracle, himself having washed some dishes efficiently while they were talking.

"Just picture the Cap," said Tomoi wistfully. "On the front lines every day. Us backliners can't understand that pressure."

"I'm fine with that," said Lunalu wryly. "Getting books done under the deadline is enough pressure for me."

"About that," Lowain put in. He nudged Elsam. Tomoi said, "We wanted to ask you about those books."

"I don't have any for sale right now, " said Lunalu automatically, hackles raised. (Actually she did, but Lunalu liked to carefully select her audience, and these people were absolutely not in the running.)

"Not about that. But since you're an expert and stuff." said Elsam. He looked nervous. "So, Lu, do you have any tips? ELI5 me."

"Don't leave water in an open jar if you don't want slimes? Look both ways before you cross the street? What's an ELI5?" asked Lunalu, completely baffled.

The three of them groaned and Elsam put his face in his hands. Tomoi took over. "What Elbro here wants to know is if you have any advice on scoring a date with Yggy."

"Yggy is Yggdrasil," Lowain put in helpfully. "It's a nickname. Cause she's super cute. Y'know?"

It took a while for what they were saying to resolve itself into something that made sense, and when it did, Lunalu choked on her drink. "Are you asking me for romantic advice?!"

"Uh yeah," said Elsam, nonplussed. "You write books, right? About love? Stuff like that?"

"I certainly don't write them from personal experience!" Lunalu was aghast at the idea. "Personally I like a nice filter between myself and reality. About a whole dimension worth, actually!"

Elsam looked crushed.

"I can get that," Tomoi said pensively. "Some things are too far off to touch, right?"

"Yes, that, and also I don't do het," said Lunalu.

"What's a het?" asked Elsam. No answer was forthcoming.

"But you know," said Lowain, "Since we're in this super hardcore guild and all, I think we should make an effort to chase our dreams, yeah? Be the hero you want to see in the world." He winked. The other two applauded. Lunalu sighed.

"I'm not against it," said Lunalu. "For other people. The frog at the bottom of the well doesn't need to get to the sky. It's enough just to look at all the ships passing by."

"It's such a big sky," Lowain said expansively. "There's gotta be room for some castles in the air for the frogs too."

"I bet if you asked Stan he'd say a lot of the same things Lu did," pointed out Tomoi. "He was Aliza's servant, right? And an Erune while she's a Draph. Major RL problems there. But it's working out."

"She's a princess, the rules are different," Lunalu said, and was surprised to find that came out a little grumpy. Maybe she wasn't as okay with being a frog as she had thought she was, but that wasn't Elsam's fault. She added, defensively, "I just think those two should come with a content warning: Caution, incoming het, or something like that. Risk of romcom over 80%. It's bad for my nerves." She sniffed over her coffee.

"So, really, what's a het?" asked Elsam.

"Aww, I think it's cute," Lowain said sagely. "Young love, y'know? Korwa was just going on about wedding dresses yesterday."

"It doesn't take that much to get Korwa to go on about wedding dresses," Lunalu pointed out, but she didn't argue the point any further. They were cute. The fact that Lunalu had privately come up with a plot based entirely on Juri's loud and enthusiastic training bouts with Stan was irrelevant, and also nobody's business but her own.

"About your question," said Lunalu awkwardly. "Have you tried talking to her? She seems nice."

Elsam's eyes lit up. "She is nice. She's super nice." His face fell. "To everybody."

"Oh dear," said Lunalu. "That is difficult."

The four of them shared a moment of commiseration. 

"Anyway," Lowain leaned in. "You know who started dating? Gawain and Lennah." He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"That front line bonding," agreed Tomoi.

"They're not the only ones on the front lines," Lunalu objected. "You need more than that for a ship. Some common ground."

Lowain pointed his finger at Lunalu. "Three points to the Professor of Love. Bingo." He lowered his voice to a stage-whisper. "They're both cursed."

"That's a start," said Lunalu. "Maybe not enough for a lasting relationship, but it's something." Now that they mentioned it, she had heard something like that, and shuddered at the idea.

"It's awful," Tomoi agreed. "You know how Lennah makes flowers everywhere? Apparently if she stops she turns into a tree."

"Aargh," said Lunalu. That sounded romantic in theory and just plain horrific in real life. Whoever had come up with that curse must have been a real piece of work. She couldn't even imagine how she would deal with something like that. Hide in her room and turn into a bonsai, probably, not float around with a sweet smile like Lennah did.

There were too many genuine heroes on this ship. Lunalu drew sexy pictures. What was she doing here?

Meanwhile the cooks had moved on to the subject of Gawain.

"I'm just saying, that's a pretty badass suit of armor, he got off pretty easily as curses go."

"It's pretty lousy," Elsam objected, having recovered from his disappointment. "Imagine you never got to take your shirt off. How does he even shower?"

"Just saying, man, if I had to choose between turning into a tree and getting a massage from my wardrobe-"

Lunalu squeaked. "Wait, a massage? What?"

"Well I didn't get the full deets," said Elsam, looking at the other two for support. "But he can't take the armor off, and it pinches when he's a jerk, is what I heard."

"All over?" Lunalu demanded. Her glasses had fogged over, so she wiped them discreetly with a napkin.

"Well, he wears a full set, so I guess, yeah?"

"Hmm," said Lunalu, drawn into the idea in spite of herself. "It's het, but I suppose that can be adjusted."

This had promise. Gender switches were new territory for Lunalu, but what artist worth her mettle didn't test her own limits occasionally?

She could see it now. A wizard of flowers, a knight in chains, an unknown demon, a mysterious witch (who could also be adjusted for the sake of art.) She would just have to come up with some alternate names so the grumpiest man on the Grancypher didn't blow her door down.

Maybe he wouldn't notice. Lunalu hoped Lennah didn't have exotic tastes in literature.

"Is nobody going to tell me what a het is?" Elsam asked the room.

Lunalu hopped off the barstool. "Thanks. That was more educational than I expected. Also delicious."

Lowain saluted. "Come anytime, Lu. You know, you can sit in the corner and sketch here, people won't mind. And the Cap will be relieved you're not hiding in your cabin all day."

"I'll think about it," Lunalu promised, and waved back.

On the way out, she paused, and looked back, eyes narrowed and staring into the distance.

"By the way," said Lunalu. "You said the three of you share a cabin."

Lowain blinked. "Yeah? Is that a thing girls like? Should we be advertising this?"

"No," said Lunalu. "Absolutely not. Under no circumstances. This is purely intellectual curiosity." She focused her gaze on the three of them, fixing the difference in their heights in her memory. Her fingers itched to draw.

"Um, Lunalu?" Elsam asked nervously. "Why are you taking notes?"

"Don't ask, man," said Tomoi wisely. "Just. Never ask."

And so Lunalu found herself a reserved table in a corner of the cafeteria for morning warmup sketches. Some of them even wound up on the walls of the Grancypher, squeezed in between Lennah's flowers and Nick's inventions and the Captain's ever-increasing collection of rare and exotic weapons (Rackam could be heard yelling, "Look, I don't care what you all get up to, just keep your mess out of the engine room!")

(By the way, _The Adventure of Galain and Lennus_ sold out and won a small but devoted following, and _The Party People_ sparked a minor boom in a very specific genre. An artist could never rest on her laurels for very long, but Lunalu permitted herself to feel smug, at least until the next deadline.)


End file.
